This invention relates to an apparatus for filling containers with a mixture of water and chemicals, and more particularly to such an apparatus that is simple, easily expandable and modularly adaptable to a variety of operating modes.
Container filling devices are in extensive use in many applications. For example, stringent health regulations in the hotel and restaurant industry often make it necessary, on a daily basis, to fill a large number of spray bottles, mop buckets and other containers with various types of disinfectant and cleaning solutions. For this purpose, it is customary to provide, in a convenient location, a set of filling devices which, upon actuation of appropriate controls, dispense a stream of water mixed in a built-in venturi with one or more chemicals.
Conventional filling devices of this type have one or more drawbacks in practical use. For example, the water stream is customarily turned on and off by a bulky magnetically toggled pilot valve. Adjacent daisy-chained devices connected by screwthreaded fittings may not be connectable tightly enough to avoid leaks. One-handed operation of the device may be awkward, as may be the filling of a bucket several yards away from the device.
It is therefore desirable to provide a simple, versatile filling device that can be modularly altered to suit a variety of operating locations and modes, and which can be easily operated from the distal end of a hose at a substantial distance from the device.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing, in one aspect of the invention, a small, simple pilot valve arrangement that lends itself to actuation by a small movement of a control on the device or remotely from it. In another aspect of the invention, daisy-chaining of the inventive devices is accomplished by a bayonet arrangement which is highly versatile and is easly kept fluid-tight without requiring close tolerances in positioning the daisy-chained devices. In a third aspect of the invention, the device is so modularly constructed as to be interchangeably operable by various types of controls without changing the control mechanism itself.